MUSIC, DESIGN & INSPIRATION

Archive for "House"

One of the tracks you hear and immediately need to buy, listen, relisten and feel the need to play for other people. Flowers EP is the debut of Ghanaian-British singer/songwriter Andrew Ashong on Theo Parrish’s Sound Signature label. The track Flowers is a 9 minute beauty playing with elements of house, disco and pop. Go get it!

Wow! 6 hours of jazz, nu-jazz, hiphop, disco, house and eclectic sounds mixed back to back by Mr. Scruff and Floating Points at Plastic People on the 25th of June. Really happy to find this.. altough a bit late. Big up Mr.Scruff and Mr. Points, you sorted my day at work.
Follow the soundcloud link below for the tracklist.

One of my favourite mixtapes these days. Percussion Lab’s 23 year old Nooka Jones also described as their “intern” in the attempt of merging all the grooves he loves in one mix. Check him out at http://soundcloud.com/nookajones. Just about my way of thinking.. stop calling it names, it’s music.

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It’s fitting that the first feature mix we’re posting after a long overdue site upgrade is by Nooka Jones. Nooka joined the Percussion Lab family as our ‘intern’ last Fall. He hasn’t done much in the way of coffee retrieval, office sweeping, or other typical intern tasks; his duties more or less consist of straight rocking the opening slot (and sometimes the closing slot) of our weekly Monday night Percussion Lab Radio event.

Nooka is one of the most open and curious dj’s I’ve met. His sets are defined by seamless mixes and a freakishly comprehensive knowledge of the history of dance music for a 23 year old. In his first (almost all vinyl!) mix for the site, Nooka goes the ‘journey’ route, choosing to cram all of his disparate influences and passions into a single mix.

Long story short, it works. From the funky abstract bubblings of Falty DL, Seafloor and Soul Clap, to the pure house stylings of Oliver $ and Catz n Dogs, to producers of the moment like Addison Groove, Boddika, and Sepalcure, he touches on all of the various genres and sounds that make up the wide open world club music is enjoying in a post-dubstep moment.

There’s a lot of shit attached to that term, ‘post dubstep’, but I think it fits. For the last year or so – dare I say since the end of Dub War NYC? – wherever you go to hear dance music, you’re hearing people play across genre lines. We’ve been calling it ‘bass music’, but post dubstep fits as well…dubstep was more than a sound, it was a way of viewing the dancefloor, the global dance culture, the studio, and the speakers themselves. As the genre devolved into metal-influenced basslines and a brostep culture, the heads took off for the far corners of the dance music world, forcing cumbia, reggae, house, UK Funky, hip hop, grime, dubstep, and jungle back into the blender, and instead of coming up with the next ‘It sound’, decided to put it all under one umbrella, and just groove.

Let’s be clear: ‘Post dubstep’ isn’t a genre title, it’s a state of mind. The ‘Next Big ‘Sound’ is gathering itself in the wings, to be sure, but in the meantime, if you listen to this mix, you’ll see that wherever we’re going as a scene, we’re gonna have a good time on the way. Nooka Jones nails the cross genre moment we’re in…Enjoy.

Pearson Sound is what David Kennedy calls himself when he doesn’t feel like calling himself Ramadanman, and this remix of “In Arms” is a sparser, more insidiuously impressive effort than Bombay Bicycle Club could muster: lax percussion herding along a dismantled house groove and harsh 808 smacks. Light-headed music for pale days

One of the new favorites on my tracklist is Paxton Fettel. He is from Copenhagen, Denmark and I found him through a lovely record label from Berlin called Falk Recordings. On his soundcloud page he writes:

When he was a kid both parents were in the music business, working at some major labels.
One night when very young, He picked up the sticks at a band rehearsal of the danish band Miss B. Haven that was the point that started off this drama. A drum kit followed when about five years old, followed by guitar, bass & then piano. However, this is a story that strays a little from the average musical tale, almost every major genre has been explored – only now has he has found a musical palette with which he feels comfortable.

-” . . . Playing around with the deep, sexy, funky and charming universe of House is very pleasing, and I have never enjoyed music the way I do now. I’ve found a niche where I can do the stuff I like, evolve in any way I want to and explore the thousands of opportunities electronic music brings . . .”
Currently Paxton is venturing down the deep and wondrous path of Deephouse and downtempo, Be sure to check the upcoming releases.

With Nico Jaar leading the way, slow(-er) side of house music is definitely developing into something verrrry warm & friendly. Good news for everyone i guess.
I give you a recent mixtape of Paxton Fettel’s current music.. another nice thing: no boring snippets, but a full length mixtape. Check his soundcloud for more.. this is good!

Gadi Mizrahi is part of the wolf + lamb duo from NYC, is running the vinyl only imprint Double Standard Records and is currently touring the World showcasing the W+L vs. Soul Clap DJ Kicks. He and his crew are hanging out at the hotel i work at in Berlin. They had a nice little sunday’s bbq here this weekend. Check the pictures on the Hotel Blog.
As for the mix.. slow & funky it showcases what the label and Gadi have to offer.. quality music from a wide spectrum of genres. It was recorded on a recent gig at The Electric Tea Garden in Seattle.

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I guess i took the right picture for this mixtape on saturday.. i was sitting in the sun on the island in treptower park. Spring is definitely closer now i thought.
TVS thinks the same and just upped some nice slo mo jams.. Enjoy!